Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Open House Features Himalayan Paintings, Cultural Items

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Arkansas will launch a Tibetan cultural exhibit and promote its spring 2011 classes – including a Dalai Lama lecture series – at its Tuesday, Feb. 8, open house.

Visitors can sign up for non-credit classes and view the exhibit at 2 p.m. in the lobby of the University of Arkansas Global Campus (School of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach), 2 East Center St., Fayetteville.

Guests will see 15 oil paintings depicting the people and culture of the Himalayas and Tibetan and Bhutanese cultural and religious items.

Carl R. Berman, an artist and cultural explorer, visited the Himalayas and captured the inhabitants’ rich culture on his oil canvases. The paintings are on loan from Fayetteville resident Blanche Berman, wife of the artist.

Tibetan and Bhutanese cultural and religious art and handicrafts provided by Geshe Thupten Dorjee, originally from Tibet, and Lama Thinley Rapke, originally from Bhutan, will also be displayed. The artwork includes a Buddhist shrine and puja bench handcrafted by Lama Thinley and other artists, along with thankas (scroll paintings) and religious objects in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. Hand-woven fabrics and wood carvings from Bhutan will also be displayed.

The exhibit is free of charge to visitors from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and will continue through April. The display complements a Dalai Lama lecture series offered as part of the institute’s spring 2011 class schedule.

The institute and the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences are partnering to provide five sessions in Fayetteville and three sessions in Rogers that focus on the Tibetan spiritual leader and related topics. Professor Sidney Burris, director of the honors program in Fulbright College, was instrumental in the development of the institute’s lecture series and in inviting the Dalai Lama to the Fayetteville campus.

The Fayetteville classes include “Looking up: Tibet and the World,” 6:30-8 p.m. Thursdays, Feb. 24-March 10; “Buddhist Principles, Practices and Precepts: Approaches to Religious Life and Identity in Tibet,” 6-8 p.m. Thursday, March 31; and “The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dalai Lamas: Hard Lessons in Leadership,” 6-8 p.m. Thursday, April 14. All classes will be held in the Global Campus building on the Fayetteville Square, room 204. Sessions at the Global Campus in Rogers, 3300 Market St., Suite 402, include “Looking up: Tibet and the World,” 9-11 a.m. Mondays, Feb. 28-March 14, Room 405. The Rogers facility is located in the Pinnacle Center.

The institute’s full list of spring courses and other information are available online, or call Kathleen Dorn, institute coordinator, at 479-575-4545 or 800-952-1165

The Osher Lifelong Institute at the University of Arkansas is part of a national network housed at 119 institutions of higher education and is supported through program fees and grants from the Bernard Osher Foundation, based in San Francisco. The institute provides engaging learning and enrichment opportunities for people age 50 years and older.